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D&D Alignments: Has Chaotic Neutral gotten a bad rap?

Hello Nedarchists! Today I want to take a look at the Dungeons & Dragons Alignment system, specifically the Chaotic Neutral alignment.

The Alignment system in some form or other has been part of the D&D experience since the beginning, all the way back in 1974 with the first edition of the game. Even in the early days, Alignments sometimes brought about a predicament for players and dungeon masters alike as Alignments could be understood in a rather subjective fashion, giving rise to lots of different interpretations.

The occasional troubles have not abated to this day. Some dungeon masters do away with Alignments altogether, or at least ignore them. Some players consider Alignments a burden upon their characters, while other players enjoy using Alignments as a guidepost for their creations.

Among the different Alignments, usually nine for most versions of D&D, a few have become known as the most troublesome. Complaints about Lawful Good, especially when concerning Paladins, have been known to slip past the tongue on more than a few occasions. Characters wanting to play an evil Alignment, especially Chaotic Evil, have brought headaches to more than one dungeon master.

Then there is Chaotic Neutral

Everybody seems to hate Chaotic Neutral. Okay, maybe not everybody, but this particular Alignment does seem to bring with it a lot of hostility, at least from those not playing a Chaotic Neutral character. If you don’t believe me, just do a simple Google search for “Chaotic Neutral” and take a glance over the links that pop up.

This enmity, at times downright venomous, is understandable to some extent. Chaotic Neutral has long been the Alignment that allows characters to get away with anything. A Chaotic Neutral character doesn’t care about good or evil, nor do they care about order or laws or fitting in with society in general. A Chaotic Neutral character only cares about disorder and living life by his or her whims. Chaotic Neutral characters are not to be trusted, mainly because the other characters never know what their wild, random companion will do at any moment, especially when in the heat of combat.

From time to time some players and Dungeon Masters have even questioned the viability of a Chaotic Neutral character as a member of an adventuring party. After all, if a person acts this unpredictable, would you really want them around? Especially when confronting matters of life and death?

Who wants that character around?

Book cover, Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax (TSR, Inc., 1979) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Such notions about this particular Alignment are understandable, and I can’t say I totally disagree with them. However, Alignments are more of a guideline for characters, not necessarily an absolute. To quote 1979’s Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, by Gary Gygax, “Naturally, there are all variations and shades of of tendencies within each alignment. The descriptions are generalizations only.”

Obviously a character who takes Chaotic Neutral to extremes would not make a good member for an adventuring party. Such a character would quickly become a nuisance and soon after, a danger. If such a character did not go away out of boredom, it’s not impossible party members would have to subdue or even slay such a character in the name of self preservation.

Still, I believe there is plenty of room within the Alignment system for Chaotic Neutral adventuring characters. For one thing, just because a character is Chaotic Neutral, that does not mean they are Chaotic Stupid. Chaos might be all fine and dandy, but it’s tough to experience, let alone spread, if one is dead, and keeping one’s fellow party members alive and reasonably happy, or at least content, also helps to improve one’s own chances at survival.

Also, being Chaotic Neutral does not mean one has to be callous and unthinking, whether dealing with one’s own party members or non-player characters. It also does not mean a character has to continually act goofy or act as a loner. Even a clown needs to rest from time to time, and the hardest lone wolf will occasionally become hungry for the company of others, even if at a distance.

A Chaotic Neutral character might value his or her own freedom and individuality above all else, but to act silly or wild is just another form of order, at least when acted out all the time. And a Chaotic Neutral character who is consistently ambivalent or uncaring about the fate of others is acting evil, not neutral. Such a character might see few moral reasons to protect or save someone else, but they would likely do so if it would benefit themself in some manner, such as by ensuring their own safety or maybe by lining their pockets with a few coins, or simply to look good in front of others who are potentially useful.

Personally, I do not believe the problem is with the Alignment itself. Over the years the Chaotic Neutral stigma has come about due to bad role playing and weak dungeon mastering. Admittedly, special problems arise when one is gaming with a friend who is acting a fool at the table, but it’s not the fault of the game or the Alignment system. Sometimes a friend and/or fellow gamer has to be called out, as emotionally difficult as that might be.

All in all, the heart of this matter can be dealt with early on by the dungeon master and the players making sure everyone at the table comes to an understanding about the type of gaming sessions to expect. Characters who show little to no possibility of playing well in a group atmosphere can be culled at that point, and if a player only wants a character who would act on their own, that player should probably move on. Tabletop role playing games are a group activity, an activity in which everyone is supposed to have fun, and each of us needs to keep that in mind. There are plenty of other options available for the individual who wants to play that lone wolf, or who wants total control, or even who wants the power of disruption.

What do you think?

If you have your own thoughts about Alignments, or your own stories to tell, please feel free to add them in the Comments section. I’ll be looking forward to them. And remember, Stay Nerdy!

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